How to keep track of your credit score

How to keep track of your credit score

You may have seen all kinds of ads, email spam, and other offers about
how to keep track of your credit score. While you may find out your
credit score when you apply for a loan or mortgage, you can can also
be more active about tracking your score by using a service. Before
you do that and spend any money, you should do a bit of homework on
your own.

Do you know what a credit score is?
A credit score is a measurement that banks, mortgage companies, and
other financial institutions use to measure your credit risk. The
higher the score, the more likely it is you will get the loan or
credit because a high score equals low risk. The score can also
determine the terms of the loan like the interest rate you will be
charged. The most popular scoring system creates a FICO score, which
can be as low as 300 and and as high as 850. A score above 700 is a
good score, and one below 600 is not so good.
Do you know how you get your score?
Your score is based on your credit history, things like whether you
pay your bills on time, how many loans and credit cards you have, and
how much debt you have. The companies that create credit scores
compares your profile with the profiles of many other people, and they
make a judgments about how good a credit risk you are.

Why Should I Care About My Credit Score?
The answer is simple, a higher credit score means lower interest
rates, larger loans, and higher limits on your credit cards. Take the
time to make sure your score stays high and you will have fewer credit
problems.

How do I keep track of my score?
An easy way to keep track of your score is to use a service from a
reputable company like MyFundingSource.com that makes monitoring your credit
report easy. You should do common sense things like gettilng a
free copy of your credit report every year from
annualcreditreport.com, but this free report doesn’t include your
score. If you need to know when your score changes, you can’t do that
for free.